Jason McDermott
@biodataganache.bsky.social
Computational biologist, sometime candy maker, dad jokes, some artwork too. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. See also: @redpenblackpen.bsky.social
ORCID: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-2961-2572
ORCID: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-2961-2572
Hey! Did you know I have a substack? Well, I do. And you can subscribe and get this same kind of premium content (and sometimes more detailed discussions) for FREE! (or, you know, become a paying subscriber - that's good too)
open.substack.com/pub/redpenbl...
open.substack.com/pub/redpenbl...
November 20, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Hey! Did you know I have a substack? Well, I do. And you can subscribe and get this same kind of premium content (and sometimes more detailed discussions) for FREE! (or, you know, become a paying subscriber - that's good too)
open.substack.com/pub/redpenbl...
open.substack.com/pub/redpenbl...
Reposted by Jason McDermott
It's Thursday: How's everyone's ToDo list going? Well I hope?
November 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
It's Thursday: How's everyone's ToDo list going? Well I hope?
"AI will make you forget how to code."
HONEY I've forgotten how to code so many times in my career - AI got nothing over on me.
HONEY I've forgotten how to code so many times in my career - AI got nothing over on me.
November 20, 2025 at 2:47 AM
"AI will make you forget how to code."
HONEY I've forgotten how to code so many times in my career - AI got nothing over on me.
HONEY I've forgotten how to code so many times in my career - AI got nothing over on me.
Reposted by Jason McDermott
I debated whether to post this since it's a little off-brand for me, but once an idea like this starts it's hard to stop it coming out. But be relieved this wasn't a flow chart.
November 19, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I debated whether to post this since it's a little off-brand for me, but once an idea like this starts it's hard to stop it coming out. But be relieved this wasn't a flow chart.
Reposted by Jason McDermott
The RPBP first law of organization: *any* organizational system is the best for as long as you only have little to organize
November 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The RPBP first law of organization: *any* organizational system is the best for as long as you only have little to organize
Reposted by Jason McDermott
Conrad Hal Waddington was born OTD in 1905.
His “epigenetic landscape” is a diagrammatic representation of the constraints influencing embryonic development.
On his 50th birthday, his colleagues gave him a pinball machine on the model of the epigenetic landscape.
🧪 🦫🦋 🌱🐋 #HistSTM #philsci #evobio
His “epigenetic landscape” is a diagrammatic representation of the constraints influencing embryonic development.
On his 50th birthday, his colleagues gave him a pinball machine on the model of the epigenetic landscape.
🧪 🦫🦋 🌱🐋 #HistSTM #philsci #evobio
November 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Jason McDermott
This is a subjectively scary comic for #halloween2025
October 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM
This is a subjectively scary comic for #halloween2025
shocked. shocked i tell u
Sad day for the folks who staked their reputations on lab leak conspiracy theories.
www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...
www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...
October 31, 2025 at 4:18 PM
shocked. shocked i tell u
BTW: I know that often times talking on via Zoom/Teams/Phone is a waaay more effective mode of communication than text/emails but I still don't have to love it.
A short poem about using the phone:
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
October 28, 2025 at 5:46 PM
BTW: I know that often times talking on via Zoom/Teams/Phone is a waaay more effective mode of communication than text/emails but I still don't have to love it.
A short poem about using the phone:
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
October 28, 2025 at 5:43 PM
A short poem about using the phone:
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
Please don't call me when I'm in another meeting
Please don't call me without pinging me first
Please don't call me when I don't have my headphones handy
Please don't call me when I do have my headphones handy
Please don't call me
Please
Reposted by Jason McDermott
Reposted by Jason McDermott
What's in yer basement?
October 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
What's in yer basement?
Reposted by Jason McDermott
As coding gets more plug and play, it becomes IMPERATIVE for us as educators to teach fundamentals about what the statistical tests are comparing and assumptions.
Students might not need to understand how to code things up, but they should understand what the snippets are doing and why
Students might not need to understand how to code things up, but they should understand what the snippets are doing and why
Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
Statistics in the era of AI
How do we mentor, teach, and do stats when AI can do so much of the work?
scienceforeveryone.science
October 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
As coding gets more plug and play, it becomes IMPERATIVE for us as educators to teach fundamentals about what the statistical tests are comparing and assumptions.
Students might not need to understand how to code things up, but they should understand what the snippets are doing and why
Students might not need to understand how to code things up, but they should understand what the snippets are doing and why
5 seconds of the current news seems to do the trick
October 5, 2025 at 2:57 AM
5 seconds of the current news seems to do the trick
Reposted by Jason McDermott
It turns out that the infinite monkeys that may be put out of work from our new (and I, for one welcome them) AI overlords are actually us scientists
September 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
It turns out that the infinite monkeys that may be put out of work from our new (and I, for one welcome them) AI overlords are actually us scientists
Reposted by Jason McDermott
MMseqs2-GPU sets new standards in single query search speed, allows near instant search of big databases, scales to multiple GPUs and is fast beyond VRAM. It enables ColabFold MSA generation in seconds and sub-second Foldseek search against AFDB50. 1/n
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💿 mmseqs.com
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💿 mmseqs.com
GPU-accelerated homology search with MMseqs2 - Nature Methods
Graphics processing unit-accelerated MMseqs2 offers tremendous speedups for homology retrieval from metagenomic databases, query-centered multiple sequence alignment generation for structure predictio...
www.nature.com
September 21, 2025 at 8:06 AM
MMseqs2-GPU sets new standards in single query search speed, allows near instant search of big databases, scales to multiple GPUs and is fast beyond VRAM. It enables ColabFold MSA generation in seconds and sub-second Foldseek search against AFDB50. 1/n
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💿 mmseqs.com
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💿 mmseqs.com
I’m sitting here enjoying the NATURAL FLAVOR when all of the sudden the NATURAL FLAVOR kicks in
September 20, 2025 at 12:25 AM
I’m sitting here enjoying the NATURAL FLAVOR when all of the sudden the NATURAL FLAVOR kicks in
Gosh how helpful
September 20, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Gosh how helpful
I may be willing to give them the Gary Busey one...
One out of 3 ain't bad Google News.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
September 19, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I may be willing to give them the Gary Busey one...
One out of 3 ain't bad Google News.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
September 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
One out of 3 ain't bad Google News.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
.
.
.
Ok. It really is bad.
Knock, knock.
Who is it?
Spi-door dash
Who is it?
Spi-door dash
September 19, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Knock, knock.
Who is it?
Spi-door dash
Who is it?
Spi-door dash
Reposted by Jason McDermott
The new XKCD has to be a reference to the ant paper where ants just casually lay eggs of a different species, yes? Maybe? There are so many weird bugs its hard to know.
September 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The new XKCD has to be a reference to the ant paper where ants just casually lay eggs of a different species, yes? Maybe? There are so many weird bugs its hard to know.
You can't give a monkey a hammer and call them a carpenter
[me: about myself, with respect to AI expertise]
[me: about myself, with respect to AI expertise]
September 6, 2025 at 11:30 PM
You can't give a monkey a hammer and call them a carpenter
[me: about myself, with respect to AI expertise]
[me: about myself, with respect to AI expertise]
Reposted by Jason McDermott
I won't say this is *every* paper, but I have trouble remembering any that weren't like this
September 4, 2025 at 4:57 AM
I won't say this is *every* paper, but I have trouble remembering any that weren't like this